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SEPA at your Fingertips

SEPA at your Fingertips

The
M-Channel Group

The
M-Channel Group develops proposals that are ripe for further collaboration and standardisation with regard to the initiation and receipt of
payments. The high level principles described by the group form the basis for creating the necessary standards and business rules as well as interoperability. The
M-Channel Group acts in cooperation with other players in the mobile payments market to ensure maximum efficiency of the mobile payments channel.

The
Roadmap for Mobile Payments

Incidentally, agreement on the
M-Channel Roadmap required careful analysis as to the actual deliverables to be included taking into consideration the scope -
- and the fact that the
M-Channel Group operates in the collaborative space. Evaluating
payment services against options for mobile payment service types allowed specifying the appropriate work programme. In addition, work items were prioritised based on an evaluation of market potential as well as business, economic and go-to-market aspects.

This has resulted in the following shortlist of mobile payment services addressed in the
M-Channel Roadmap:

card proximity payments - all use cases except person to person

card mobile remote payments for person to business, business to business and person to person

mobile remote payments - all use cases

Next Steps

Development of the options spelled out in the Roadmap will take place in three phases with regard to each of the categories identified. The first phase focuses on the service requirements analysis including business and technical / security impacts. This analysis will result in a draft white paper per category mentioned in the shortlist above. In the second phase, industry stakeholders will be consulted and their feedback incorporated into the final version of the white papers. In a third phase,
aims to specify implementation recommendations and guidelines as well as a communication plan.

Over the coming months the Roadmap will be further detailed with regard to priorities, timelines and milestones for each of the shortlisted categories.
also continues to cooperate with key organisations in the mobile payments market such as MobeyForum, GlobalPlatform, EMVCo and the French "Payez Mobile" to facilitate the implementation of its Roadmap.

At the same time, significant progress is being made with regard to the further development of contactless NFC-based payments using the mobile phone. This project forms part of the deliverables specified in the Roadmap and enjoys the highest priority. To this end, the
is cooperating with the global Mobile Network Operators represented by GSMA.

Dag-Inge Flatraaker is the Chair of the
M-Channel Group. If you wish to obtain any further information, please contact the
Secretariat (e-mail to secretariat@europeanpaymentscouncil.eu).

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In this article

In March 2009 the
Plenary approved the
Roadmap for M-Payments. The Roadmap defines key deliverables of the
M-Channel Group. The aim is to develop mobile channels for the initiation and receipt of
payments empowering customers to make payments on the go across 31
countries. In a next step, the
M-Channel Group will address proximity payments as a priority. Dag-Inge Flatraaker reports on the work in progress.